Phuck

And that's the end of the Tampa Bay Rays, and the 2008 baseball season.

It's a frustrating loss; we had become legitimate Rays fans this playoff season. But perhaps Philadelphia winning a major championship is more fitting. Hell, the city hadn't won anything since 1983 while the Rays weren't created until 1998. To see Tampa win it, no matter how good of a story it would've been, would have felt a little cheap because of its short existence -- kinda like how the Florida Marlins have two friggin' World Series titles.

Not to take anything away from Tampa. Best story, in our opinion, baseball has seen since the Homerun Race of 1998. To go from last-to-first with a tiny budget, homegrown players and the spirit of a college team, is nothing short of spectacular. The Rays will be fun to watch for some time.

But this wasn't Tampa's year. Congrats, Philadelphia. Go eat a fucking cheesesteak and burn down the Liberty Bell. You've waited long enough.

RAYS!!!!!11!! GAME 1 2NITE!!!

AAAA WTF!?!? RAYS!!!1!!!!$#$#DFfefiwj

Congrats Tampa!

Go fack yahself, ya facken queehr.

Fack you,
Sargent Sullivan

Congrats Tampa!

GO RAYS!

Cheers,
Cheers

RAYS!!!!!!

Rays, motherfuckers!!!!! RAYS!!!!!(!&D!~!!!!DK!!!&!

It's strange to think, that we had so much invested in a team, in a series, that is 2850.95 miles away.

But we did.

To see Tampa blow Game Five brought back memories of The Game Giants Fans Do Not Speak Of. We shouldn't have cared so much.

But we did.

And like the rest of the doubters, realists and cynics out there, we thought the Rays were fucked liked a bleached blond with insecurity issues on a movie set in the San Fernando Valley.

But they weren't. Tampa, which gave History the middle finger all season, gave it one more time when it counted most. From DRaysBay:

The coldest story was to be told tonight. The Rays were done. History was against them, but history doesn't play baseball. This team has shown again and again how true that is.

We'll admit that part of our new-found affinity for the Rays is a combined love of the youth movement/underdog story and a hatred for Boston and New York.

For the Rays to essentially beat Boston twice -- by winning the AL East and now the pennant -- makes it that much sweeter. The Red Sox are the new Yankees and anyone who tries to deny that is terribly naive. And Boston's fans are far more fucking fucktastic, which clearly is a bad thing.

And once the Red Sox miraculously took Game Five, everyone thought that was it for the series. Had Boston been able to complete the series comeback, not only would it have been an epic comeback that only furthered our hatred for everything Boston, it would have overshadowed Tampa's tremendous season.

Sure, the last-to-first story still would have been written down in the history books, but the Rays' season would be remembered for blowing a 3-1 series lead and a 7-0 lead in the seventh. A tough pill to swallow after a fabulous year.

But a very well-pitched Game Seven and a perfect management of the bullpen by Joe Maddon wrote the next chapter in this fucking fairy tale. (That was a cliché-laden sentence).

Fitting, too, that when David beat Goliath, it was David Price that came through. Four tough outs have pretty much told Rays fans that Tampa's next rising star has already rose.

When Akinori Iwamura touched second base, recording the final out, we couldn't help but clap, pump our fist and high-five the girlfriend who may or may not have known that she was watching baseball. We were -- and are -- genuinely excited about a team nearly 3,000 miles away. That's sports for ya.

So there it is. Fuck Boston. Go Rays. It's time for a World Series mohawk. Who's with us?

Congrats Tampa!

I am such a tool. I'm gonna go fuck my wife in front of a mirror. Good luck against Philly.

Sincerely,
Jonathan Papelbon

Congrats Tampa!

I can't believe I made this movie. Good job, Rays!

All the best,
Jimmy Fallon

OMFG RAYS!!!!1!!!!!!!1!!!!

RAYS!!1!!!11!!!!!!!!1!!!!!!

Congrats Tampa!

Hats off to a job well done. The stage is yours...

Kindly,
Theo Epstein

Congrats Tampa!

Good job guys. You're like the Bad News Bears (the original, of course) meets Rookie of the Year. Congrats!

Warm regards,
Bill Simmons

RAYS!!!!!

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

The Rays. The fucking Rays!

Eleven seasons. 1,033 losses. And the Tampa Bay Rays are in the playoffs.

We can't think of a better story in baseball since Sosa and McGwire chased and caught history in 1998. Probably the best season in sports since the New Orleans Saints captured the affection of a battered city in 2006. Last to first is trite as hell, but Tampa was a fucking doormat for years, and they started to believe, have a wealth of young talent, and shit, they're in the playoffs!

Go Tampa! Go Rays! World Series or bust! We're getting our playoff mohawk tomorrow.

The Rays are not losing ground

The Rays were off Thursday.

Thank you for continued support of Rays week at The Big Picture.

Joe Maddon looks like Gene Hackman from Enemy of the State

See?

Thank you for continued support of Rays week at The Big Picture.

Holy crap!!! The Rays are going to win the World Series!!! AAGGHH!!#6!!! The Tampa Bay Rays are going to win the World Series!!!1@!!5!

Multi-tasking: jumping AND high-fives!

We don't really mean that, but a little overreaction from time to time never hurts.

Huge win Tuesday over the Sox. Blown lead in the eighth, just to win it in the ninth. Hats off to you, Tampa. Nicely done.

And the Rays tagged Papelbon with the loss. Nice. Papelbon's a cunt.

The Rays are fucked...and why America should care

Well, America shouldn't necessarily care. That was just being hyperbolic and magazine-y. You could totally see that as an SI headline, right? Totally.

But, yes, the Rays are screwed like a pornstar and it's bad for baseball.

After a 3-0 offensive-awakening Monday against Boston, the Rays have lost six of seven and hold only a half game lead over Boston, which, as a city, is collectively mourning the loss of Tom Brady by drinking and talking with poor accents.

The Sox win the East by three-plus games, no question, but with a 7.5 game lead over Minnesota for the final playoff spot, you'd think the Rays would be able to clinch their first playoff berth in franchise history. Not much of a consolation, though, will be having to go to Anaheim and face the Angels in the ALDS.

Tampa has 20 games left (seven at home, 13 on the road): five with Boston; three with New York; four with Minnesota, Baltimore and Detroit.

Minnesota has 19 games left (nine at home, 10 on the road): three with Cleveland, Baltimore and Chicago; four with Tampa; six with Kansas City.

Hard for any team to make up 7.5 games with 20 to play -- especially with that team has only been 13 over through 143 games.

But Baltimore might not win another game and Kansas City hasn't been good in like 80 years. And the Rays could very well lose 12-14 of those remaining 20 games.

Considering most people thought that Tampa was still a year or two away from competing -- in what's easily baseball's toughest division -- the fact that the Rays would have to hang themselves from the ceiling fan to choke as badly as they'd need to choke to miss the playoffs is a pleasant surprise.

But kiss the AL East crown goodbye. But the playoffs are looking good, Tampa. Though they could totally blow it. What if they blow it? That'd suck. Big time. Fuck. They might blow this thing.